SummaryThis week, Community Developer Hamish Bode was joined by Terry and Keith to provide an exclusive look at the new PvE horde mode, Resistance as well as the Rogue 2.0 mechanics meant to overhaul the Dark Zone experience.

Hot Topics

Update 1.7.1

Will be released next Tuesday (September 19th) for all platforms

It will fix the RMP Glitch

The jamming of the semi-automatic sniper rifles will be addressed

Some de-synchronization problems between server and client will also be fixed

Second Ban wave

A second ban wave has gone out and a third one is already prepared

Update 1.8 PTS

Will Start September 26th – the week before the Global Event starts.

As before it will be free for PC

When you were invited on console for the last PTS, you will have access to the 1.8 PTS – you will only get an update

They will also invite more player on top of the already invited players – but they have not yet finalized the invitation criteria.

Also make sure that you have selected the box that allows Ubisoft to send you emails on your Uplay account – when that box is not selected, you will not get an invitation, because they are not allowed to send you emails

Global Event 2 – Assault

The next Global Event “Assault” will start on October 3rd.

The theme of this event will be proximity to the enemy. Enemies will do less damage the closer you are to them and they will do additional damage the further away you are, so make sure to get up close and personal!

Assault will introduce the classified versions of the Striker’s Battlegear, Sentry’s Call and Reclaimer gear sets and following the conclusion of the event, these classified sets will become available in the general loot pool of the game.

Update 1.8 Rogue 2.0

Goals

Rogues are a very important feature of the Dark Zone and they want to keep that tension

It will ake away the frustration that comes with accidental rogue

It will improve the Manhunt so that you are more motivated to go Manhunt and are better rewarded

Rogue Toggle

You have to choose to go rogue and activate it with a toggle that has a delay on it

Players around you will get a visual and an audio warning that an Agent just went rogue. This way they have time to prepare for it

It is in the line of sight, so when you don´t see the agent, you will still get the audio notification

This is not a PVP-Flag like in other MMOs, it is just a declaring of intent.

You will not be protected from PVP when you have not activated the rogue mode.

You have to press and hold “up” on console and “shift-R” on PC

Choice of going rogue or not

You have to chose and toggle on the Rogue mode and from then on you can attack other players

When you are in a group and one of the player toggles rogue, you get a message first and then you can leave the group before you are also flagged as rogue

That should also motivate players to group up more in the Dark Zone, because this way you are more protected when you don´t want to go rogue – you now have a chance to leave

Improved Manhunt

The five-minute timer has been removed from the Manhunt

Once you have reached Manhunt, you will get an objective

You have to hack into a Shade-Tech terminal to reboot your ISAAC and clear your Manhunt Status – you don´t have a time-limit to clear your Manhunt Status, you can do it any time you want

At this point, the other players can try to stop you, because they will get a mission to stop the players on Manhunt.

The hack time is depending on multiple factors - number of players in the group, manhunt level etc, that is still being fine-tuned.

The Shade-Tech Terminals are scattered across the Dark Zone and one is randomly chosen.

Once you do that, you get your rewards and become a normal agent again

Manhunt Rewards

Depending on your Manhunt level, you will get Manhunt-Caches as rewards

These Manhunt Caches will have a chance drop the best loot in the game (Exotic & Classified)

The higher your Manhunt is – the higher the chance is to get Classifieds and Exotics.

These Rewards are delivered straight to your inventory and don´t need to be extracted

There is no point to have more kills after Manhunt 5, because there are no higher rewards when you kill more

Rogue-Hunter Rewards

When you assist or kill a player on Manhunt-Level you will get a Bounty-Cache - you don´t have to be in the same group as other rogue hunters to get the reward.

Those caches will also have a chance give you the best rewards possible

These Rewards are delivered straight to your inventory and don´t need to be extracted

Body Blocking and other “popular” tactics

Grenade Spamming should be lowered with the new classified Final Measure and they are also tweaking the effectiveness of specific grenades (shock grenades will not be the easy kill)

Body Blocking is a non-issue now, since there is no accidental rogue problem anymore and blocking bullets is just stalling the combat

When you die, you will re-spawn as non-rogue, but when you get back to your rogue group within a certain radius, you will go back rogue immediately without doing anything.

Cutting Rope

Still makes you rogue

Cutting Rope also increases your Manhunt level

Update 1.8 Resistance

This horde-mode has been tailored for PVE players

West Side Piers gives you an introduction to the new enemy (all factions together) and that leads you in the new Resistance activity

You can play this mode solo or in groups – the content will scale

You have to be level 30 to play Resistance

Star the Session

You can walk in from the open world

You can matchmake on the meeting stone in front of the mission

Infinite Waves / Difficulty increases

There are infinite waves in this game mode

As you are going through the waves there are specific difficulty-checkpoints where they start to buff the AI in a combination of toughness / DPS and exotic ammunition

You are basically working yourself through the difficulties of the game. Hard-Mode Difficulty AI (wave 5), Challenge-Mode Difficulty AI (wave 10), Legendary Difficulty (wave 15) and then the Endless Difficulty (wave 15 +)

There are no checkpoints, when you wipe as a group you are done – but you can revive yourself as long as one player is alive.

The lower difficulties prepare you for the later and then the endless difficulties

Wave Progression

There is randomness, but there is still a structure

Every 3 / 5 waves there is a special wave

Especially in the early waves you will know when drones or other special enemies are added

Once you have reached the Endless Waves – it will be completely random what enemy you encounter – but you will also get a clear indicator what you will be fighting.

Special Waves

Every 3 waves you have a critical objective that you have to complete

Every 5 waves there is a Boss wave

These Special Waves are milestones in the Resistance Progression and also give you an indication how you did in comparison to the last session.

These special waves have timers on them, that forces you out of cover to complete these tasks as fast as possible.

When you fail to finish the objectives in the specified time – it is a team-wipe and the session is over.

Critical Objectives - Gives you something to do somewhere on the map (details will follow)

Boss Waves - Boss Waves include one or more Named NPCs that you need to kill. - These named NPC will drop loot that you can collect and keep - You will encounter the same bosses as in the Missions (Ferro / Larea Barret) and they also have a chance to drop the Exotic item that is assigned to them. - As long as the boss is not killed, the adds will spawn indefinitely. - There are also new bosses that use shock turrets and drones will also be present

Maps

There are three Resistance maps - The Carrier (Intrepid Carrier) - Pier 93 - The Powerhouse

They are similar to the Skirmish maps but a lot bigger

You will start in one area and then you can unlock new areas by unlocking/opening doors.

Tasks

The goal is to survive the different waves and difficulties and in Resistance you also get the tools for that:

When you kill NPCs, they will drop Shade-Tech and that is your currency in Resistance.

With the Shade-Tech you can buy items that you find on the Resistance map.

You can buy - Fortifications that you know from Last Stand - There is also a new Support Station - You can also repair and upgrade the fortifications (Turret get fire ammo / the Pulse Station gives you more critical hit chance etc)

When the Fortification is destroyed you have to start the upgrade process again – so keep an eye on them and repair them when it is needed)

So you have to find a strategy where to hold up, what to upgrade and what to keep – especially for the later waves.

Rewards

You will get straight to inventory rewards when you reach and beat a special boss wave

You will also get Resistance Caches that drop with Tiers on them.

Resistance Caches have in total five tiers and when you have reached Tier 5 caches, you have also the best chance to get classified and exotics drops.

Each Cache Tier has its own loot table that should also reward you accordingly.

Each 10 waves pushes you into a new reward tier – so once you hit wave 50 you are in the Tier 5 Cache range

Updatate 1.8 – New Exotic Weapons

4 new exotic weapons

1 new Marksman Rifle weapon set

1 new LMG

1 new SMG MPX based on a Sig Sauer

Looking Forward

Free WeekendThis weekend, all PC players will be able to play Tom Clancy’s The Division, for free! Have you been waiting for a chance to take back New York with your friends? Play all weekend, from September 14th to 17th!

You can access the Free Weekend during the following times:

From September 14th 7pm CEST to September 17th 10pm CEST

Pre-load will be available on Uplay PC starting September 12th 6pm CEST.